


We Will Abide

by Gargoyles_and_Goodies



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, F/M, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Major Illness, No Rey Palpatine, Post TLJ, Reylo – Freeform, Sick Fic, Stubborn Rey, no TRoS, questionable medical information
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-25 11:54:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22495702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gargoyles_and_Goodies/pseuds/Gargoyles_and_Goodies
Summary: The First Order had been called to aid a planet with a mysterious illness.  In return for providing medical care the planet will join the First Order and provide a good source of necessary resources.Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, who is in desperate need of some positive PR, agrees.Rey assures him she’s not in the infected system, but a simple cough could mean death if she doesn’t get help quick.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 1
Kudos: 35





	We Will Abide

**Author's Note:**

> True to form, I worked on it till a hated it, so i'm posting what I have. 
> 
> This fic is un-betad, be gentle. 
> 
> Please enjoy my first attempt at a sick fic!

\---

_//“The sickness is spreading out of control and the dead are mounting. This is our most desperate hour._

_Help us Supreme Leader, you’re our only hope.”//_

The familiar words echoed in his empty quarters. He paused the holo leaving the image of the Tholothian diplomat looking at him with desperate pleading eyes. 

The sickness must really have done a number on the planet if they were desperate enough to reach out to the First Order for help. Kylo Ren brought up the initial reports on the data pad next to him. 

They called it Geostigma, and it was a truly terrible way to go. Although the severity varies from person to person, it was almost always fatal.

It started with common flu like symptoms a cough, headaches, and could progress quickly killing you after the first symptoms or take weeks leaving you covered in open necrotic sores that weep black discharge, coughing up blood while your body slowly waists away, resulting in death or a coma only 1% of patients wake up from. 

It’s a slow, excruciating way to die. And there was no cure. 

Kylo had worked hard rectify the First Orders image after taking control from Snoke, but it was an uphill battle. Some wounds were harder to heal, some deceptions too hard to come back from. This was not an opportunity often found. To use his unique position and vast resources to aid and hopefully cure the population and in return establish themselves on a resource rich planet with little to no opposition was one too good to pass up. 

A quarantine blockade was established around Tholoth, no one who was sent to the planet would return until treatment was established and the Stigma had been successfully dealt with.

Once the quarantine was in place Kylo Ren had his best scientists begin their work. The process would be a difficult one they had to identify first what caused the disease and how it was spread then they could figure out how to stop it. Once they had a successful treatment with more survivors, they could begin developing a vaccine. 

\---

Only a couple days into the quarantine of Tholoth, the bond opened.

In the early days, after Crait, they would spend the time they had been brought together angry and hurt, unable to bring themselves to do more than argue and shout at one another. 

With every connection the force answered few questions and left them with more. After a particularly nasty fight, in which Kylo said many things he should not have, Rey attempted to slap him across the face only for her hand to pass through him leaving them both shocked and frustrated. 

When that became to exhausting they moved on to ignoring each other. Refusing to look or acknowledge the other presence. They both soon found the pull to the other impossible to forget, the longing became palpable and the silence ended up combatable. Finally they had to accept the bond would be a fact of life and a weak peace had been established. 

It had taken months but their relationship more closely resembled the one they had before Kylos disastrous attempt at getting her to join him, when they fought side by side in the throne room. And Kylo was damn pleased about it. It’s one thing to be lonely and have no one, another thing completely to have someone just out of your reach. They could have real conversations now, and even tease one another. 

She was very good at keeping information about the Resistance from him; not willing to risk what they had he never pushed. _One day,_ he thought to himself, _the Resistance won’t be necessary and he and Rey would finally be on the same side._ The bond would open and without fail she would smile at him, something he hadn’t realized he would miss so much. 

Which is why her grease smudged glare was so unusual. She was clearly working on some sort of machinery when the force connected him and as soon as she caught his eye she got right up into his face.

“A blockade Ben?” she demanded “you can’t control people with force, they need help Ben”

He was rather entranced with her passion and almost forgot to respond. When he did it was dazed and just above a whisper

“Quarantine” he corrected before adding “they asked me”

“Bantha shit”

“Rey, you and I both know that lying to one another through the bond is impossible, you would feel it. Now, am I lying?”

She had her arms crossed tightly over her chest standing away with her side to him. She grunted but accepted his point eying him past her shoulder. Rey sighed and dropped her arms before returning to what she was working on. Once she touched it he could see the translucent speeder bike that looked like it had seen better days. 

“So what’s wrong with them?” She asked, he sank to the ground sitting cross-legged next to her

“An unidentified disease. It’s spreading rapidly and is poised to become the next Blue Shadow Virus if it isn’t dealt with”

Rey looked at him in shock hands stilling on the wires

“That bad?”

He nods saying “It’s a strange sickness, normally the most vulnerable population are the very young and the elderly, in this case it seems the most adversely affected are sentients who are otherwise young and healthy.”

“And they asked you to come?”

“We have the best doctors and scientists along with the resources available to put towards this crisis, we don’t have a base planet to worry about. There was no one else who could offer what we could”

She didn’t respond, just nodded and continued to work on the speeder. Usually they were able to fill silences with small talk but this time Kylo had something specific he wanted to question her about

“Rey, I know you won’t tell me where you are, but I need to know you aren’t on Tholoth.”

She huffed angrily at him, her irritation evident in the force. She was stubborn about not revealing locations but this was different it was important. He tried to relax and lower his defenses to let Rey know exactly how he felt in a moment of weakness.

“You don’t have to give me details, just let me know you’re safe. This Geostigma is something else, and I won’t be able to concentrate on the people of Tholoth if I don’t know whether you’re in danger or not.”

“No”

“No what Rey? No you’re not on Tholoth, or no you’re not going to tell me?”

“No, I’m not on Tholoth. I promise” she met his eyes and smiled and he was able to breathe easy knowing she was telling the truth. 

“So what are you going to do about it?”

“I’m going to cure it”

\---

A cure may have been ambitious on his part. 

Treatment was slow and currently focused on symptoms they could see. Autopsies on infected cadavers revealed major internal trauma and tests showed low blood oxygen, and high levels of nitrogen and bilirubin, among other things. It seemed as if the virus triggered the immune system to go into overdrive attacking not just contaminated cells but healthy cells as well the targeted healthy cells then become more fuel for the virus. Infusions and dialysis seemed to help early on in the diseases progression but once it got to the Secondary or symptomatic stage it only increased a patients chance of survival by 3%. Still an impressive feat the scientists rushed to assure him, but it wasn’t a cure. 

The Supreme Leader was consumed by his work, on top of his regular duties he wanted to be kept up to date at all times on the progress being made treating Geostigma. He had just approved a promising new line of research the doctors had high hopes for. This was his chance to change how people saw the First Order and how they saw him. To prove he was superior to Snoke, to the Emperor, and if he was being honest with himself, Rey and his mother. Maybe if he could cure this plague it would prove he wasn’t a monster. 

He wouldn’t delude himself into thinking he could ever go back to a simpler time, before everything, but no matter how he struggled he couldn’t fight the hope hidden deep within that maybe, just maybe, they could be proud of him. 

\---

It was with much celebration and fanfare that Supreme Leader Kylo Ren announced the First Order had developed a successful treatment for Geostigma, the disease that had been wreaking havoc on Tholoth. Initial trial runs had increased the chances of survival tenfold, with more developments ongoing. While the planet was still being held in quarantine the prognosis was good, there were high hopes of being able to utilize this success and develop a vaccine to be distributed to neighboring planets and systems. 

The holo net was filled with buzz surrounding the First Orders announcement. While it had initially been treated as propaganda, outgoing transmissions proved otherwise. Every standard day more reports came from the planet confirming the treatment was working. Even though the First Order had been careful to scrutinize outgoing transmissions, it made an effort to not suppress regular communications with the planet. It seemed that the news that the treatment, although in its initial stages, was working, seemed to be true. 

The hype didn’t stop there. Another planet reported multiple confirmed cases of Geostigma and reached out for aid. 

Not only did Kylo Ren immediately send out an extraction team to bring the infected to within the quarantine he also sent supplies and medical personnel planet-side prevent any chance of it spreading the way it had on Tholoth saving possibly millions of lives in the process. 

His plan was working, opinion of the First Order was improving significantly particularly in the colonies and core worlds where the Resistance already had the least sway.

A holo flickered before the congregated people, Kylo Ren mask off vowing to help any planet that is concerned about the disease all they had to do was reach out, and ask. 

Poe slammed the table so hard it knocked the holo projector off and dropped a data pad to the floor of the falcon. They were in hyperspace fleeing from yet another base that had been found by the First Order. It had been small but its location was prime to get messages and supplies transported to where they were needed with no interference. 

It was only by the grace of the force no one had been at the base when it was raided. Rey had received a vision of the impending danger and they were able to clear everybody out in time. But losing the base stung. 

The fact that there were people actually turning to the First Order for help was killing Poe in the worst way. And the thing that frustrated him the most was that there was nothing they could do to stop it. The only people with the knowledge and means to treat Geostigma were the first order, it was turn to them, or die. 

Poe couldn’t help but think it was a ploy, a trap, and they could only stand by and watch, but even he couldn’t say it wasn’t a brilliant plan.

Kylo Ren had more tactical knowledge then they gave him credit for, he really was his mother’s son.

\---

Only days after the leaders of the Resistance gathered together to plan a strategy going forward, Kylo Ren announced the First Order had developed a vaccine. 

\---

The next time the force connected them Rey was surrounded by heat so dry she may well have been back on Jakku. The dust in the air made everyone cough and it hurt to breathe even in the relative comfort of the falcon. 

She was alone in her bunk when she felt the telltale pull and low buzzing in her brain. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling when she turned to face him. He must be in the middle of training. Swinging his lightsaber around wearing only his leather pants and a black undershirt. He was sweaty and breathing heavily his arms and muscles twitched and flexed like he had been at it for a while. He rubbed off his face with a black towel and gave her a shy quirk of his lips when he saw her. 

She coughed to clear out her chest and her mind and nodded to his outfit.

“Are you wearing suspenders? Are you 80?”

He frowned down at his outfit.

“I find them more comfortable than a bet”

“Strongly disagree old man” she joked

He rubbed the back of his head and they lapsed into an awkward silence. It was a long moment before Rey shifted on her feet and softly spoke.

“I heard the vaccines are a success”

His eyes snapped to hers searching her face. He was trying not to show how eager he was and it made her smile again.

“I heard that you are providing it for free to other planets that may have been infected”

“That’s correct” he whispered still staring at her hard.

“Why?”

“Because I’m the only one that can.”

Her smile was full and bright, it made her close her eyes ad wrinkle her nose and she could hear his breath catch in his throat. When she opened her eyes again he was now looking at her with awe, until she began to move in close to him. He tensed up not sure what she was going to do or say as she looked up at him sweetly with big hazel eyes. She leaned in close and she could feel him holding his breath, and- she snapped one of his suspenders hard against his chest.

Rey laughed loudly at his shock and poked her pink tongue out from between her teeth as she teased and danced around him. 

Her laughs turned to coughs that wracked her body and she used his shoulder as support until she could breathe properly again.

“Stupid dust” she muttered.

They stayed like that for a bit. Her hand on his broad shoulder, his body close to hers. When she snapped his suspender again, which resulted in another bought of laughter and coughing. 

\---

They bonded several times in quick succession over the next couple of days. They had finally left that dust bowl planet and Rey was looking forward to getting all the dust out of her lungs so she could breathe properly again. 

She was telling him about how Leia had ordered the Resistance not to interfere with the treatment and vaccine operations of the First Order when she coughed for the third time in their five minute conversation, but she brushed off his questions and his concerned look with a wave of her hand.

“I told you, I’m not on Tholoth”

“It’s not just Tholoth now, a dozen other planets have confirmed cases, none as bad but it’s still dangerous. Just promise the Resistance will look at the list of planets and stay away. Just to be safe”

\---

The bond was touchy from day one. One week they would see each other every day the next they would go for a month without a peep. They could touch hands and brush against each other and feel the electricity but couldn’t always spar, sometimes their lightsabers would connect, and sometimes they would pass through the other. Their connection was as much a mystery months later as it was when it first began. 

Kylo didn’t see her for a week when the bond sprang into life, and it revealed Rey, curled up in a ball surrounded by blankets. She was breathing hard, her hair and skin were drenched in sweat even as she trembled and shook. 

For a moment his world stopped and crashed when Rey looked up at him with dull puffy eyes. 

“I don’t know. I don’t know where I caught it” she whispered her voice hoarse from coughing.

\---

It all happened so fast.

Rey thought her lungs had gotten weak from being away from Jakku. She just needed to clear out her chest, get some fresh air away from dry heat. Or as fresh as you could get on the falcon while they traveled through space. 

She was tired all the time, no matter how much she slept and even the smallest task would wear her out. Whenever she slept she would wake up with a pounding headache. She struggled to do things she had done every day, clumsy and dizzy for no reason. And her body would ache as if she had run a great distance. 

She endeavored to muscle her way through it to press on like she had always done, until one day she collapsed in a hallway and they were forced to rush her to another ship with a proper med bay.

Rey didn’t remember what exactly happened next, but when she woke up the medical droid told her she had, had a seizure. 

The Resistance didn’t want to think that someone in their ranks had contracted the Stigma, they were forced to run tests and compare them with information provided from the First Order on the holonet and they were able to conclude, Rey had Geostigma.

Both ships were washed and treated from top to bottom. Every person who had come in contact with her or the ships were tested for the Stigma as well. Twelve different people who had been stationed on five different planets came back positive. There was no way to tell which planet or spaceport it had been contracted at or who was patient zero. 

They were forced to do a mass scan of every member of the Resistance, thirty six people, many of whom Rey had never even met, were diagnosed. In total forty nine people had been infected. 

It could have been worse, the medics told them, and they had safely contained the outbreak and could work on getting the vaccine from the First Order. Their numbers had greatly improved since Crait but having almost fifty people out of commission was damn near a disaster. 

All of the patients were brought to a temperate planet with a mild climate and quarantined from the rest of the Resistance. Another hundred were brought to help treat them and to stand by in case of emergency. It wasn’t a standard medical base, previously it had been used as a minimum security detainment center. Shaped like a cross it had four wings with twenty five rooms in each wing and a large open hanger bay in the center of it all. There was enough room to maintain a quarantine while the rest of the Resistance tried to pull together the supplies to treat them.

Each room was sparse and dim, with no windows and only a single light fixture in the center of the ceiling, but the beds they brought in were comfortable and the whole building was dry and warm with enough room to move around and work on the patient.

They focused on the patients that were fading faster than the others. In less than a week four people had already died. Another three had slipped into a coma. 

Rey had never been this sick before, she never would have survived on Jakku if she had. She was shaky, dizzy and nauseous, her whole body felt like it was both on fire and freezing. What would have otherwise been a mild pain throughout her body was constant and maddening. 

Even though they weren’t allowed in, Finn and Rose would make a point of sending in extra food and more blankets, Rey was already so thin compared so some of the other patients she couldn’t afford to lose much weight, even as she struggled to eat. 

When she had seen what her friends had sent to her she curled up and cried, wishing she could just get a hug. 

Looking up at Ben after the bond had connected with his eyes wide in horror she could hardly bring herself to talk.

\---

Kylo put one hand gently on her shoulder while the other brush sweat damp hair out of her face. She squirmed and tried to shove him off struggling to warn him not to touch her. 

“It’s ok” he whispered “you can’t infect me I’m safe”

“We don’t know that” her whisper came out as more of a whine and she cringed inwardly

“Even if you could infect me over the bond, I’ve been vaccinated Rey. We tested, I went down to Tholoth myself.”

She stopped struggling, before allowing herself to relax into his arms when he told her that. All of the fear and the pain and stress rushed over her and she was so overwhelmed she began to cry in earnest into his chest. Ben tensed up immediately, not entirely sure what he should do or how to deal with the sobbing woman clutching him.

Rey could _almost_ laugh when he actually pat her back awkwardly, he was trying so hard. 

“Hug me Ben” she said flatly

It didn’t take him long to wrap his arms around her sitting next to her on the bed rocking her gently as he held her. When he finally let her go to look into her face she was half draped over his lap. 

“Space port, we think” was all she could tell him, they weren’t even sure about that. He tried to help her lift a cup of water in her hands and she glared at him but he wouldn’t desist.

“Its fine” he explained when she pulled the cup away from him again “just tell me where you are, the treatment is actually quite simple now that we’ve had time to work with it”

Rey shook her head, making the room spin.

“I can’t tell you that Ben, It’ll put the whole Resistance at risk”

“Then tell them to leave, I’ll come get you” he huffed

“Then we lose the base, you already got our last one”

“I gave you warning. Rey you need this treatment, without it you’re not likely to survive. It’s a slow and painful way to go”

“I won’t put the Resistance at risk like that.”

“You’ll change your mind”

\---

He was convinced the reason she wouldn’t tell him, was that his mother or her friends were probably at the base with her. If he could convince her to move somewhere else she may accept his offer this time.

The next time he sees her, she’s hooked up to several machines, IV’s and heart monitors, old technology, probably the only stuff they had. 

Her breathing is labored and raspy and her usually tanned skin turning yellow and so pale he can see her veins. She’s sleeping deeply, which they both know from experience is almost impossible when the bond activates.

He’s alone in his chambers now, he was preparing to sleep himself, instead he pulls up the metal stool from his workbench and positions himself next to her, watching over her and gently stroking her forehead. 

\---

The environmental suit Depo was wearing made him clumsy as he scampered out of view, he had almost dropped the tray he was bringing to Rey. He peeked cautiously through the window on the door to her room and confirmed what he saw. 

Kylo Ren, the Supreme Leader of the First Order and enemy of the Resistance, was currently pacing next to Rey’s bed. He was translucent walking in and out of the containment chamber that surrounded her, occasionally passing through her bedside table, but there was no mistaking who he was. 

When Rey shifted in the bed he rushed back to her side, sitting down next to her on a translucent stool that appeared out of nowhere, and gently picked up one of her hands, watching her intently. 

Rey shifted again, and opened her eyes, locking them with his, and she smiled. 

Depo’s mind had gone blank. He wasn’t sure if he was scared or furious. 

The rooms may have been separate but as the Resistance members had learned (sometimes the hard way) the walls and door were paper thin, and voices traveled. So he could easily pick put the Supreme Leaders voice when he spoke to Rey.

“Tell me where you are” he said “I can save you”

Rey didn’t respond right away, she just shook her head and tried to mumble something. But Depo didn’t stay to listen. Still holding the tray of food, he turned and rushed to his superior officer. 

They arrived Back to Rey’s room and peeked through the window in time to get a good look at Kylo Ren before he vanished into thin air. 

She was still reaching out where he had just been holding her hand, but her strength quickly gave out and her arm dropped back to the bed. She didn’t turn her head or move much, just gazed off at the spot he’d been. 

They both stood in slack jawed silence, there was no questioning what they had seen. Kylo Ren had been holding Rey’s hand and stroking her face. He had moved a lock of hair behind her ear. And then he just vanished. 

Depo’s superior officer- a big man named Kare- was deeply loyal to the Resistance though stubborn and easy to anger. He stalked away immediately with Depo following close afterward, muttering unflattering things about Rey the whole way to the main meeting room.

Several of the Resistance leaders and General Leia herself were seated around the table talking when Kare and Depo stormed in.

“They’re in cahoots!” Kare roared at the room, only to be met with blank stares.

“Rey and Kylo Ren” he amended “she’s a spy”

“Ba careful what you say” a man growled from behind Kare. The larger man spun around to see Poe push his way past him into the room.

Kare and Poe weren’t friends but for the most part Kare didn’t mind him. Poe was young, and arrogant, showed off too much, but had grown into a good soldier in the older officer’s mind. However, it was no secret he was good friends with Rey not to mention the former Stormtrooper, he would defend her, even if he was wrong.

“I saw him Poe, in her room”

“How the hell would Ren be in Rey’s room?” Poe scoffed raising a brow.

“I don’t know” Kare snapped “but I saw him! Depo saw him too”

At this the younger man no one had really paid any attention to moved forward with an enthusiastic nod.

“I did! Kylo Ren was in her room, he was translucent almost like a holo, but he was holding her hand.”

\---

“Your tests for Geostigma have come back negative” the nurse droid said

“I told you I wasn’t hallucinating”

After his outburst in the meeting room, both Kare and Depo had been ordered back to the med bay for their own testing. Of the thirty four infected patients left fourteen of them had experienced vivid visual hallucinations. Even though it was a later stage symptom they were compelled to check. Still all of Kare and Depos tests came back negative and no one had a good explanation for what they had seen.

“You expect us to believe… what?” Poe asked cheekily “that Kylo Ren is using the force to visit Rey on a planet half way across the galaxy, when even the Luke Skywalker didn’t survive the same thing?”

Kare ignored him and kept talking to the General “How do we know she hasn’t told him where we are? How do we know he’s not on his way right now to wipe us all out?”

“Because his ship, you know the big one, is still orbiting Tholoth and _everybody_ is watching. If it moves or deploys anything, the whole galaxy will know” Poe responded, Leia had nothing to add and anger bubbled up in Kares chest.

“She’s a traitor!” Kare roared at the lounging piolet “They’re in a relationship and you’re too blind to see it!”

Poe’s eyes narrowed on the Commanding Officer and stood up from where he was leaning, his body tense and ramrod straight. 

“You have no evidence, and no idea. You know nothing about Rey either. Even if Kylo Ren was using the force to try and get information out of Rey, she would never betray us”

Poe wouldn’t let Kare get another word in, he turned abruptly and left the room.

\---

Poe could only defend her for so long. As the next person to spot Kylo Ren at Rey’s bedside wasn’t a person at all, it was a droid… his droid.

BB-8 nearly barreled him over before playing the holo in front of him, Finn, Rose and several members of the leadership. It was hard to see, but ultimately unmistakable.

\\\Kylo Ren, was harder to make out, but he was frustrated, running his hand through his hair and pacing back and forth beside Rey’s bed while she sat quietly watching him as he argued at her. 

/“Why are you being like this? I’ve watched you get weaker every time the force connects us. Now you’re just being stubborn”/

/“The First Order released all of their treatment information. We’re using it and its helping, a bunch of us are showing signs of improvement”/

/“Can you tell me _you’re_ improving? That you’re in a state of the art facility with trained doctors and bacta and nothing is expired?”/

Rey remained silent and Kylo Ren growled in frustration//

They didn’t say much else and soon he vanished, and BB-8’s holo ended.

\---

The rumors spread through the base, wild theories were everywhere. That it was all fake. That Rey and Kylo Ren were secret lovers. That Rey was a First Order spy all along. That Rey and Kylo Reb were some sort of force couple that could talk to each other across the galaxy. The rumors were for the most part successfully kept on base, and didn’t spread to the rest of the Resistance in the galaxy.

Leia was adamant that people try not to spread gossip that had no evidence to support it and that no one was to approach Rey about it until they had some more information or until she was well enough to give them and explanation herself. 

While most people were happy to comply, even though the rumors continued to fly, there was a small vocal minority that was adamant that Rey was a traitor and a spy and nothing anyone could say would convince them otherwise. They didn’t want information or answers they just wanted Rey to be punished. 

Despite what they had seen Rose, Finn and Poe remained steadfastly in her defense. 

But Kare wasn’t having it. Why should they coddle someone who deceived them for who knows how long, what information she could have already divulged? He was adamant that he would show everybody the truth.

He along with Depo and several other members of the Resistance who couldn’t understand why this was happening snuck into the wing Rey was in and crept into her room. 

She was in a medically induced sleep right now, but she usually woke up after a couple hours. They set up several cameras around her bed outside of the containment field so they could get the whole room in view. They would use these cameras to project a holo into the main hanger for everyone to see who she really was. 

\---

The hanger was packed tight. And filled with the low hum of a hundred people murmuring to each other. Everyone was eager to hear what General Leia had to say about Rey and the Supreme Leader. 

She had gathered everyone together to clear the air and answer what questions she could. It was widely speculated that Leia may have known about the strange connection between Kylo and Rey. And while most people took that as a sign that they shouldn’t be worried, there were many who feared she was letting her love for her son and hope that he would return cloud her judgment. 

The Generals speech started off without a hitch. She made valid points regarding Reys training and support she provided, about how if she had told the First Order where they were they would have been wiped out long before mow. 

She was just starting to talk about everything they’ve managed to accomplish in such a short period of time when the big holo projector sprang to life. The image in front of them giving everyone pause.

“We deserve to know the truth, General” Kare spat.

Displayed out before them, ten feet tall and in high definition, was Rey’s bed.

And next to her was Kylo Ren.

\---

\\\When the bond opened, Kylo was greeted with a horrifying sight.

Rey was gaunt and deathly pale. She had lost weight she couldn’t afford to lose. She was shirtless covered only by her bindings and a strip of off white fabric wrapped tightly around her shoulders and chest, an ominous dark spot was seeping into the fabric from the open sore underneath. Her breaths came out raspy and she looked like she could hardly move. 

When she opened up her eyes to look up at him they were unfocused and glassy with unshed tears. Rey had a rag clutched tightly in her hand coughing into it before she tried to speak. 

She could only whisper his name before she coughed into the rag again. This time when it came from her lips it was spotted with blood and the distinctive black discharge that indicated Geostigma. At this point in the lifespan of the disease, her prognosis was grim, but it wouldn’t stop him from trying again.

“Please Rey, you are going to die, tell me where you are. I’ll come alone, no one else just a medical droid.”

She shook her head weakly

“Tell me somewhere close I’ll drop the supplies off, your Resistance can come get them.”

“To risky” she murmured

“How is it too risky?” he roared, then winced and apologized. “Rey I swear to you, I’ll leave the supplies, drop them off on a neutral planet, then I’ll leave, no one from the First Order will come in contact with any of them.”

“I can’t risk you or them being followed”

“You don’t trust me?”

“I trust you. It’s your co-workers I’m worried about” she tried to joke.

Rey coughed again, hard into the rag. Blood was smeared onto her lips standing out vividly against her pale skin. Kylo pulled out a handkerchief from a hidden pocket and gently wiped the blood away. 

“You are such an old man” she snorted giving him a weak smile, but he couldn’t return it.

“We’re sending out shipments of medical supplies, including the treatment for the Stigma. I’ll tell you where they are headed have your Resistance friends intercept one of them. I’ll order my men not to pursue”

“What about the people the shipments are for?”

“Rey! You have got to be kidding me! Don’t you understand? You. Are. Going. To. Die. You _need_ this treatment. There are people who need you.”

“People?”

“Me Rey, please” by this point he was openly begging. 

“I can’t Ben. The Resistance, they’re my family. It’s the first cause I’ve ever truly believed in. If you care about me Ben, you will accept how important it is to me to keep them safe.”

“Even if it means you’ll die?”

“Yes.”

Kylo was on his stool again, hunched over and holding the bloodstained handkerchief tightly in his hands. He was shaking a little, not with rage, but with quiet tears.

With great effort Rey reached up to him and gently stroked his face, he leaned into her palm bringing his hand up to steady hers.

“There is so much good in you Ben,” Kylo scoffed at her words “I see it, people in the galaxy are seeing it”

“Nothing but publicity”

“You know you can’t lie to me through the bond Ben. You wanted to help them, and you did. You saved billions of lives. You have the resources and manpower to do great things Ben, but the First Order is still driven by the military focusing on power and control. That’s not you”

His tears were flowing freely now, and her breath was getting more ragged as she struggled to find the energy to get the words out.

“Please don’t let this be an excuse to let your anger consume you. That’s no way to live. There is still so much for you to do.”

He choked on a sob and asked

“What about you, what can I do for you?”

“Can you hold my hand, I’m scared”//

\---

Less than two days later, Rey slipped into a coma.

It was if the whole base was shrouded in a miasma of grief. Rumors from Tholoth claimed the Supreme Leader had suddenly and without warning locked himself away for a whole day, with only a vague “there’s been a disturbance in the force” as the reason why. 

Information on Reys status that had been kept on base successfully for so long had been leaked to the rest of the Resistance in the galaxy, and had somehow made its way to the generals of the First Order. 

General Hux had taken the opportunity to release a holo announcing that the so called Resistance Jedi had died. Causally remarking that the Resistance couldn’t even help their own, how could they help the galaxy? Even though the ginger general tried to maintain an air of nonchalance, his pale eyes sparked with malicious glee. 

It had an, unusual effect.

The knowledge that Rey had fought so hard for so long, against all odds, filled the holonet. She was seen as a hero to people everywhere. The casual dismissal of the Resistance and the assumption that only the First Order could provide irked many sentients. And maybe the Resistance couldn’t provide for the galaxy, but surly the First Order didn’t assume they would just lay back and succumb to military occupation.

It was starting to become clear, if Kylo Ren wanted to reunite the galaxy, he would have to look for other peaceful options. 

\---

It seemed the Supreme Leader was willing to take up the challenge, much to the displeasure of many of his generals, most of whom believed that they had opened themselves up to a strategical disadvantage when they had helped the people of Tholoth and that they should have wiped them out as a show of strength. 

Kylo could feed his generals dissatisfaction in the force, and it seemed that the fresh wave support of the people in several systems were preventing them from opposing his rule. At least for now.

Kylo put up his barriers and strived to maintain the façade of a firm resolve.

He returned to his quarters tired and emotionally drained. He cleaned away the day and prepared his quarters for meditation, the same thing he did every night once he felt the cold shock from Rey’s end of the bond.

The rumors that Rey was dead had hit him harder than he expected, particularly because he could feel that she was still alive, he could feel her light flickering in the force, weak, but alive. 

If he could reach that flame and stoke it, maybe he could help her through to the other side unscathed. 

It was a rare, even with medical intervention it was a long shot, but there were plenty of examples where people had woken up from the coma. Rey was a fighter, a survivor. With the power of the force on their side, he believed it was worth a try.

“Help me Grandfather…Luke… anyone”

\---

Hux would not shut up.

He was in the middle of a long winded spiel on why they should be taking a firmer hand with Lothal. Their history with military occupation be damned. Obviously the people of Lothal weren’t going to support armed forces from the First Order, just like the fought against the Empire. General Hux had an almost admirable belief that they could achieve what the empire could not. Dumb. But admirable.

They were almost at the training room and Kylo would be free to cut this one-sided conversation abruptly short when Capitan Mitaka approached him with a data pad. He stood at attention when his superior officers approached, nervousness oozed around him in the force, bad news then.

“Sirs, you should see this.”

He turned the data pad toward them and flicked through several screens. They all had the same symbol, the symbol of the Resistance. 

“It’s being sent out on multiple platforms, holos are jammed up too.”

Kylo took the data pad from the young Capitan and brought up the holonet several channels displayed the same image. But before he could examine it further the holo changed and Kylo felt a pull in the force.

A group of officers had stopped around them and together everyone watched as the holo displayed a message from the Resistance, they didn’t see their Supreme Leader staring at a blank spot on the wall to the side. 

\---

\\\Rey looked up from her med bay bed, tired and thin, but very much alive. The fire in her eyes had returned and she smirked.

\“It seems some reports of my condition have been greatly exaggerated. I’m sure that Hux will be happy to hear I’m on the mend”/

(When General Hux saw this he spluttered and his pale face grew splotchy as he flushed)

\“I urge everyone to remember what’s important, what’s worth fighting for. Because as Rose likes to say; that’s how we’ll win. Not by killing what we hate, but by saving what we love. May the force be with you all”//

With one final look off camera to the side she gave them a smile and the holo cut off before the First Order could finish their trace. Leaving the galaxy with one final written message:

_Hope is like the sun._

\---

**Author's Note:**

> If the illness sounds familiar it’s because I ripped it off from another fandom of mine, FFVII. I put it in a place holder and couldn’t think of anything better to replace it with.
> 
> FFVII was actually the first fandom I ever wrote a fic for, I'm hoping maybe one day ill get that fic re-written and posted here. 
> 
> Comments and Kudos bring me great joy.


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